If a player signs a new contract before his existing contract expires, do the terms of that new contract go into effect immediately?
If so, maybe they can renegotiate with JT so that he plays for a lower salary as say, the third line center. That might be easier than asking him to waive and uproot his young family, but still gives them millions in cap space. The captaincy is another issue that can be addressed once next year's team is assembled (Matthews is not the right guy, so let's see who comes in who might be captain material).